So the title and the poll say it all. Who deserves the most credit for the MCU: Phase One success. Yes this was clearly a team effort, and yes ALL of these people (and others) deserve credit; but I simply want to know who do you think deserves the MOST credit?

1) Kevin Feige- The man with the grand plan for the MCU. Involved in each and every film and responsible for overall continuity.

2) Joss Whedon- He wrote and directed the culminating piece of Phase One and knocked it out of the park.

3) Robert Downey Jr.- Without his charisma and acting talent audiences may have never been drawn into Iron Man and the rest of the MCU.

4) Jon Favreau- His witty charm and sensibilities led to a remarkable Iron Man film that introduced mass audiences to the MCU world.

5) Louis Leterrier- He put the action and the fun back into the Hulk.

6) Kenneth Branagh- Brought a Shakesperian dynamic to a comic book film, but still made it accessible enough for the mass audience. He also successfully brought in cosmic elements to the MCU; and let's not forget he discovered and introduced to the world: Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston (who went on to become the series' main villain in spectacular fashion).

7) Joe Johnston- Inserted some all American classic adventure cinema into the series. He also showed the world how good an actor Chris Evans was.

So who's your choice?

Mine is Robert Downey Jr. IMHO it was his irresistible charm that sucked audiences into the MCU. He is electric and magnetic on the big screen. You can have a lot of great ideas, but it takes actual talent to execute them. I just don't think Marvel can thank him enough. He's worth every penny of the $50 Million they paid him for The Avengers.

This was hard for me because Whedon, Feige, and Favreau all deserve a lot of credit (and so do the others to a lesser extent) but RDJ is the man! Your thoughts?

Joss Whedon, his skill at writing and directing the large cast is no easy feat. He took the best from the previous movies, and added to it! I would have Kevin Fiege in second, since it was his grand idea at the beginning, and he stuck to it!

Robert Downy Jr is great, but let's not fool ourselves, it took the entire team to bring in the big bucks that it did.

It was Favs who took the bold step to cast RDJ as a superhero, and to take a new non-Burton/Nolanesque approach to the genre. More importantly, he's the one who came up with the idea of using SLJ in the Nick Fury cameo at the end of the movie, and urging Kevin Feige to actually develop a shared film universe.

But Feige has been the one who's responsible for the logistics of bringing all this together, and he's done an outstanding job, with an eye towards genuine respect for the source material and fandom.

It was Favs who took the bold step to cast RDJ as a superhero, and to take a new non-Burton/Nolanesque approach to the genre. More importantly, he's the one who came up with the idea of using SLJ in the Nick Fury cameo at the end of the movie, and urging Kevin Feige to actually develop a shared film universe.

But Feige has been the one who's responsible for the logistics of bringing all this together, and he's done an outstanding job, with an eye towards genuine respect for the source material and fandom.

I had no idea Favreau was the one who pushed Feige to develop a shared universe, I was under the impression that was Feige's goal from the start. Where'd you hear it was Favs who spear headed that?

JON FAVREAU: We wanted something for the fans.... Nick Fury from the Ultimates — which is a new series of books that sort of reconceives the tradition of Marvel characters — he was always depicted to resemble Samuel L. Jackson. And so I turned to [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige and said, ''You know what would blow their minds? Should we so this?'' Kevin was like, ''Let's try.'' And then we actually pulled it together. It was just a little scene, just a little tip of the hat for the fans that we were paying attention to what had been established, and a way to sort of tee up the Avengers. I think it would be a very smart third film in the Iron Man series. It's very difficult to keep these franchises from running out of gas after two [movies]. The high point seems to be the second one, judging by history: If you just look at the consensus in the reviews, you see that X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 are sort of seen by the fans as the sort of high point of both franchises, though I don't necessarily agree with that. But to be able to fold it into an Avengers is something you just couldn't do in another studio, and I think what Marvel is about is stuff you can't do at a bigger studio. They gave me tremendous creative freedom; they gave me tremendous freedom in casting, at the end of the day. Even though there was concern, they ultimately backed a decision [to hire Downey to play Tony Stark] that I don't think a studio would've, and now they're benefiting from having that nimble creative team. And that's, honestly, the most attractive aspect of working with them again.

RDJ for making us all laugh and for bringing in new fans.
Favreau for what has been mentioned above (convincing Feige to let it happen)
Feige for letting/making it all happen
Whedon for tying it all together and for what he will inevitably do with the franchise

RDJ and Favs kind of share that because of what they did. Took a character that was well known in a sense to most comic geeks, turned him into a merchandise blitz, and started off the whole shared universe.

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If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. - Henry Ford
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Who the **** makes a movie and while planning it is like, "you know what this needs...is some Greg Kinnear."

RDJ for making us all laugh and for bringing in new fans.
Favreau for what has been mentioned above (convincing Feige to let it happen)
Feige for letting/making it all happen
Whedon for tying it all together and for what he will inevitably do with the franchise

All a team effort, but I'd give Feige, RDJ, and Favs a boost for kickstarting the ambitious project in such an appealing and smart fashion, Feige for maintaining that integrity and continuity throughout, and Whedon for weaving the many threads together so expertly in its culmination.

I'd also say it's a team effort. Feige had the idea of the MCU and the courage to bring it to life, RDJ for his incredible performance as Tony Stark, Favreau for giving us a great first Iron Man movie as kickoff, Whedon for the highlight of all this.

And even all the other directors, writers and main actors for hitting the tone of the MCU and making successful movies about the other heroes.

It's possible, but starting it off with Iron Man kind of made more sense with the whole arrogance Stark had and Fury's "you think you're the only one out there?" line. Stark is technically the most normal guy on the team.

__________________
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. - Henry Ford
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Who the **** makes a movie and while planning it is like, "you know what this needs...is some Greg Kinnear."